


birthday plans

by edling



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Birthday, im very aware that its not his birthday or anywhere close to it i just wanted to write this, it gets sad for like ONE second, its pretty casual, just three dudes vibing, takes place like a few weeks after the baschool incident you know the one
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-13
Updated: 2020-04-13
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:08:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,063
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23624365
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/edling/pseuds/edling
Summary: Edward's recovering from his injuries in a doctor's office when his 16th birthday rolls around.At least he doesn't have to spend it alone.(featuring a shitty title because i forgot i have to title my fics)
Comments: 7
Kudos: 63





	birthday plans

Edward was recovering when he turned 16 years old.

It was only a few weeks after Darius and Heinkel helped him out of the mineshaft in Baschool, and well, it takes a while for a hole in your stomach to heal.

So, there he was on his 16th birthday, sitting in an honestly-not-very-comfortable bed in a small doctor’s office. Wonderful.

He was letting random thoughts bounce around in his head -- thoughts about how Winry and Alphonse are doing, whether they’re safe or not, wondering if they remember if it’s his birthday or not -- when Darius walked in.

“Hey Fullmetal, how’re the injuries doing?” He stood in the doorway, casting a large shadow across the floor that ended right next to Edward’s bed.

“Fine.” Ed sighed, looking towards his abdomen where it laid under the bedsheets, a look of mild annoyance on his face. “Like i’ve been saying, it’s not anything I can’t handle.”

The chimera raised one eyebrow at that, narrowing his eyes. “You say that like you get impaled on a regular basis. Whatever, I don’t think I want to know what kinds of things you’ve been doing before all this.”

Ed closed his eyes and shrugged. “That’s fair. Let’s just say I’ve been to the hospital a pretty good number of times.”

“I don’t think I even want to know what’s considered ‘a good number of times.’ to visit a hospital.”

Darius put a hand to his head, the reaction making Ed smirk. “I won’t tell you then.”

“Good.” Darius sighed, deciding to change the subject. “So, you got any plans for today besides laying around? I know for a fact you haven’t been spending these days completely in bed like you’re supposed to.” He pointed an accusatory finger at Ed, who rolled his eyes in response.

“Dunno. Today’s my birthday, actually, but I can’t really do much to celebrate, y’know?” The teen didn’t know what response to expect, but all Darius did was blink, a slightly dumbfounded look on his face.

“Wait, wait, it’s your birthday? How old are you now, kid?”

“16. Why are you so surprised, you think I don’t age or something?”

Whether Darius noticed the sarcasm or not, he quickly shook his head. “I didn’t even know how old you are, but happy birthday, Fullmetal.”

Ed nodded at him, a wide smile on his face. “Thanks, and now you  _ do _ know how old I am.”

“True.” Darius glanced behind him, hearing a set of footsteps. “Now, I'm going to go talk to Heinkel for a second, you stay put.”

The teen tilted his head for a second before simply shrugging, muttering a quick ‘ok’ before moving to lay back down.

The man was only gone for a few minutes before Ed heard him walk back inside and move to sit on the stool near the room’s entrance. Ed opened his eyes and sat back up as Darius started talking.

“So kid, what do you normally do on your birthday?”

Ed blinked, processing the question. “Well, before I spent it with my brother and our friend Winry back in Resembool, but I don’t visit there often anymore. Usually we’d get invited to Lieutenant Colonel Hughes house and celebrate with his family and..” 

He paused for a minute, his eyes were glassy and he was looking at his hands. A look of concern ran across Darius’s face. “Something wrong?”

“No, it’s just, um,” His hands gripped his blanket tightly, and it was clear he was trying very hard to keep his voice level. “The Lieutenant Colonel, or Brigadier General I guess, is kind of, um, dead.”

Oh. Ohhhh shit.

“I see.” Darius looked between his the end of the bed and Ed’s eyes. The kid looked so  _ sad _ all of a sudden. He didn’t need that, especially not when he was in the middle of recovering from a serious injury. He sat, thinking for a few minutes and quietly letting Ed regain the composure he seemed to be losing, before asking another question.

“Well, what kinds of celebrations would you guys have?” This caught Ed’s attention. He stared almost blankly at Darius, but the man saw his eyes widen, even if it was barely noticeable.

“Usually, he invited us over for dinner. We would eat with him and his wife and daughter, and we would just talk for a long time. We’d play with his daughter for a while after that too, until she had to be put to bed. After that, he’d let us stay the night.” A certain soft look appeared on Ed’s face as he spoke, clearly fond of the memories he had of the Hughes family. “It was simple, but I honestly liked it a lot.”

Darius had a small smile on his face, watching Ed recount those memories. “That sounds nice kid, I'm glad you had a good time.” He quickly stood up as he heard footsteps once again, and he could hear Heinkel start speaking as he moved to enter the room.

“We can’t really provide any fun times like that, considering the situation we’re in. But we  _ can  _ give you this.” Heinkel said. Ed looked confused before he looked down, seeing the man had something in his arms. 

It was a cake. A very plainly decorated one, but a cake nonetheless. Darius left the room for a second to grab some forks and plates. When he walked back inside, Ed was just staring at the cake, wide-eyed and excited.

Heinkel quickly cut out a slice, putting it on a plate and handing it to Ed. “Go ahead, kid. Happy birthday.”

Ed was speechless for a minute, looking at the cake and then back at the two chimeras. “When did you get this?”

Darius smirked. “Heinkel went out and bought it while I was talking to you in here. It’s not great, we know, but it’s the least we could do. And like he said, happy birthday.”

The two men looked at each other, clearly proud of themselves, and smiled at Ed. 

“Geez, you really didn’t have to.” He moved to eat a piece of his slice. “But I appreciate it, I really do. Thanks a lot, you guys.”

With that, Ed spent his 16th birthday recovering in bed, enjoying a slice of cake with the men that helped save his life.

If you asked him later, it really wasn’t that bad.

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> heyyy! this is just something i wrote casually because the idea was in my head. i hope you had a good time reading it!
> 
> ALSO im making progress on the next chapter of 'you let your callous be your shield' i promise i am just. a lazy fuck JHFSDJHSDFJKHJK


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